Average number of words on a search result on the first page of Google

72%

Percentage of consumers who did a local search and then visited a store within five miles

60%

Percentage of clicks that go to the top three websites in search engine results

Is SEO Really That Important For Your Business?

SEO or Search Engine Optimization is a term that gets tossed around A LOT. In fact, most of our clients tell us they receive more emails and phone calls from companies promising rankings on the first page of Google than calls from leads. It’s no surprise that many business owners feel overwhelmed by the term SEO, especially when they don’t understand exactly what it is, what it does and how it can impact their bottom line.

What is SEO?

SEO is an acronym that stands for “Search Engine Optimization.” So what in the heck does that mean? According to Moz (a respected leader in digital marketing), “Search engine optimization is the practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search engine results.” In laymen’s terms, SEO involves getting more people in your target demographic to visit your site through popular search engines like Google and Bing.

In laymen’s terms, SEO involves getting more people in your target demographic to visit your site through popular search engines like Google and Bing.

Here’s an example:

You live in Annapolis, Maryland and you want to get your car washed. You want to look at all the options before deciding where you will get your car washed, so you do a Google search for “best carwashes in Annapolis.” Google spits out a handful of search results that it believes match your search criteria. Your search result might look something like the snapshot below right?

Where Is Your Business Displayed In The Search Results?

If you are not on the first page of Google’s organic search results, chances are, visitor’s looking for YOUR type of business, will not find you. Some business owner’s may say “when they search for our business by name, we are the first result to pop up on Google.” Great! That is called a “branded” search. Simply put, the people searching for you by your company name, ALREADY KNOW ABOUT YOU. Your goal for SEO should be to get people WHO DO NOT KNOW ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS, but are looking for the services or products you provide, to YOUR SITE. That is called a “non-branded” search. The people doing a non-branded search for your products or services are called “potential leads.” Now do you see why it is so important to implement SEO on your site?

With So Many Options, Which SEO Company Should You Hire?

There are so many things that go into SEO services, especially considering that search engines change their algorithms anywhere between 400-500 times per year. According to Andrey Lipattsev, a Search Quality Senior Strategist at Google, content is one of the most important Google ranking factors. While there are many SEO companies that promise a long list of technical inclusions that sound like Latin to the average business owner or marketing manager, the truth is that great SEO companies have great copywriters and content creators on their team.

We are respected copywriters, with a long list of work experience and expertise in SEO copywriting. In essence, we were writers first, who learned the technical know-how of SEO. A decade ago, anyone that knew how Google’s algorithms worked, could write decent SEO copy and rank on the first page of Google for their target key words. However, several of Google’s algorithm updates in the last few years, the saying “content is king,” still rings true. It means that Google and search engines display sites in search results for sites that have hyper-relevant, authoritative content that was written in a natural and informative way. Basically, it should read well and not sound like a robot wrote it. SEO copywriting and content creation is an art, and the SEO company you hire needs to prove they can create unique, relevant and valuable content that users want to read and share.

Linking is still thought to be one of the most important factors when it comes to SEO. A great SEO company knows how to not only create amazing content as noted above, but knows how to maximize the number of high-quality external links. An external link simply means that another site has linked your website on theirs, which shows they view you/your site as an authority or subject matter expert. At Smith and 7 we understand the importance of external linking and build it into every SEO package we offer. For example, if we are creating content for an Annapolis car wash client, we might write a blog about how to maintain a car’s value through regular auto maintenance both under the hood and on the vehicle’s exterior. We would include tips on the types of products and services that are beneficial and help maintain the car’s value over an extended period of time. A local auto body shop or car dealership might want to link to this blog because it offers their customers content that is valuable and helpful.

What Other Factors Go Into SEO?

There are many factors that go into SEO. Those factors change and evolve over time. However, the core factors have remained the same. In addition to creating great, relevant content and external linking, the following factors are important when optimizing a site for search engines.

SEO is really broken down into the following categories:

On Page SEO:

This type of SEO is what we previously mentioned and includes; developing great, relevant content on a website, while ensuring the site’s structure and internal linking is well-organized and flows seamlessly as possible for the user.

Off Page SEO:

This type of SEO focuses mainly on back linking, or getting other authoritative sites to link to your site. The more great back links you have, the more Google considers you an expert within your area.